Personal Capital Review 2019

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I write this Personal Capital review as a long-time user. I’ve used Personal Capital for several years to track our income, expenses, and net worth. I hope this review will help readers better understand the service.

Personal Capital is best described as a “financial account aggregator.” After connecting your bank account, credit cards, mortgage or auto loans, investment accounts, and any other financial accounts, the free service will summarize your financial situation and offer personal financial planning guidance.

Personal Capital is similar to Mint’s online budgeting service, but much more comprehensive. Like Mint, Personal Capital provides a comprehensive budgeting solution. Unlike Mint, Personal Capital provides a robust set of tools and resources to help you manage your investment portfolio, asset allocation, and retirement planning. All of these services are provided free of charge.

More than 1,800,000 users are now using the free Personal Capital platform to reach their financial goals. In addition to the excellent free financial tools, Personal Capital is a Registered Investment Adviser (RIA) with more than $7 Billion in assets under management.

Your Personal Capital Dashboard

After opening a free account, you link your financial accounts to the online dashboard. This involves authorizing each account within Personal Capital. I found this to be extremely easy and efficient on the desktop version of the program. You simply click a small plus arrow, specify the type of account, and fill in the online credentials.

After linking your accounts, they remain linked until you unlink them or change any of the account information. Each day, your account information is automatically updated in real time.

The site then aggregates all of your information into a colorful series of charts and graphs to help you make sense of your income, expenses, and investments, allowing you to better understand your financial situation.

Within each category, you can explore all of the nitty, gritty details.

Personal Capital Budgeting

Personal Capital allows you to easily create a budget, set a monthly spending target, and view your progress in real time.

If you select your income profile within the Personal Capital dashboard, you can see all forms of income broken down by date and source. If you have multiple bank accounts, you can see the deposit information for each account, as well as the aggregate total income.

Similarly, you can track your spending down to the penny. Every credit card swipe. Every debit card swipe. Every bank transaction. All can be viewed on your account dashboard in real time. You can also analyze each expense by date, merchant, and category.

Personal Capital also allows you to stay on track of bill payments. You can view previous payments made and upcoming bills that are due, as well as the minimum payment required and the total balance outstanding.

These different features all blend seamlessly into an excellent user experience. Because of the robust set of features, I now prefer Personal Capital’s cash flow management and budgeting tools over those provided by Mint.com or Quicken.

Retirement Planner

Personal Capital recently updated their retirement planning tool, which allows you to know exactly where you stand relative to your retirement goals. Now you can build, manage, and forecast your retirement plan in one convenient location.

The tool pulls in your actual financial data from the accounts you’ve linked to Personal Capital and lets you add personal information and expected life events. Using this information, the retirement planning tool estimates the following information for you:

Expected Income – The Retirement Planner automatically calculates your expected monthly income and projected Social Security benefits. You can easily add in other sources of income such as rental income, pensions, inheritances or other windfalls.

Upcoming Goals – Planning to move? Buying a new home? Getting married? Adopting a child? The Retirement Planner will help you evaluate and decide if you can afford these large expenses and still stay on track for retirement.

*New* Scenario Analysis – Take the guesswork out of important financial decisions by creating multiple retirement scenarios. Perhaps you would like to know if going back to work will improve your ability to retire early. Or, maybe you’re wondering if you can afford a home renovation or large charitable donation without sacrificing your retirement preparedness.

You can now compare all of these scenarios, and more, directly from your Personal Capital dashboard. Best of all, you can save custom scenarios and compare the impact of different financial decisions on your overall retirement readiness over time.

Investment Checkup Tools

Personal Capital also includes several investment-related features that can help you better manage your investment portfolio. After completing a basic risk questionnaire and a few other questions about your investment goals, Personal Capital presents several charts and graphs displaying your current portfolio, asset allocation, and historical investment performance.

After summarizing your existing investments, Personal Capital then offers a series of recommendations to help improve your portfolio. You can compare the recommendations to your current investments to observe any differences in asset allocation, performance, and overall risk.

In addition, Personal Capital’s retirement fee analyzer explains the various fees that accompany your existing investments. This feature is supposed to calculate hidden fees that are often overlooked, as well as management fees and expenses.

Personal Capital Fees

All of the services I’ve just described are completely free, but Personal Capital does offer an optional asset management service.

Personal Capital is a registered investment advisor providing the free services to attract more affluent site users – particularly those with investable assets of at least $100,000. If a user has $100,000 or more, Personal Capital offers professional financial advice and the ability to work with a financial advisor (typically well trained with credentials). Personal Capital makes money by taking a percentage of the assets under management, or AUM.

If you are a self-directed investor, consider M1 Finance(see my review), which allows you to trade any stock or ETF for free.

Personal Capital Security Review

The security is very good overall, with numerous protections in place to protect your financial accounts.

Personal Capital requires you to register each electronic device that you use. They will send you an email or call your cell phone to register each device. After registering a device, there is another layer of security that is used when linking financial accounts to your Personal Capital account. You must sign in and verify the original online account in addition to your Personal Capital login. Data is encrypted with AES-256 with multi-layer key management, including rotating user-specific keys and salts.

There are also strict internal access controls. The account information you enter within Personal Capital isn’t stored in plain text, and no individual at Personal Capital has access to your credentials. Your bank and brokerage credentials are encrypted and stored at Yodlee (a financial technology veteran), not in Personal Capital’s database. All information is encrypted as read-only, which prevents anyone from accessing your full accounts and initiating any withdrawals or transfers from within Personal Capital’s service.

Personal Capital operates under SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) jurisdiction and is audited for compliance with SEC cybersecurity regulations. Furthermore, Personal Capital’s website encryption is rated “A” by the independent Qualys SSL Labs (a stronger rating than most major banks or brokerages).

The Good

Comprehensive Service – Personal Capital allows you easily manage your entire financial life using one secure interface. You can calculate your net worth, set a budget, manage investment accounts, and plan for retirement.

Friendly Reminders – Personal Capital includes an automated email feature that summarizes weekly changes in your net worth. You can choose to receive other alerts and bill payments reminders as well.

Technology – The interface is very intuitive and Personal Capital can be used on a computer, tablet, or smartphone. The Personal Capital app integrates seamlessly, making it easy to check your accounts on the go.

Ease of Use – Getting started and syncing accounts is incredibly easy with Personal Capital. In addition, the graphs and charts provide valuable financial information that is easy to read and understand.

The Bad

The Ugly

Bugs and Glitches – Early on, Personal Capital had some technical issues on the site that made the user experience a little bit irritating. However, over the last 2-3 years, they have improved the interface and usability. Since ironing out the early bugs, I have not witnessed technical issues when linking or managing my accounts. Some users still report issues when linking certain financial accounts, but this is becoming increasingly rare with each update.

Personal Capital Review Summary

I love all of the free services provided by Personal Capital. There is nothing else on the market that offers comparable value for the low price of $0.00.

I don’t pay for their investment advice, but I know a few members of the Cash Cow Community are happy with the service. The management fees are comparable to many other financial advisors, so I’ll leave that decision up to you.

Editorial Disclaimer: The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned, and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.

User Generated Content Disclosure: Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

Is possible to have your investments managed by Betterment, but be able to see those investments in my Personal Capital free account?

Reply

December 3, 2014 12:15 am

Author

Jacob Lumby, PhD

John, this is an excellent question. I am under the impression that Personal Capital does currently support Betterment linking on the interface. I could be wrong if something has very recently changed.

Reply

December 4, 2014 10:21 pm

Guest

Joan

Hi there,

I use the free functionality of Personal Capital for investment tracking since it picks up where Mint leaves off. I am considering starting up a Betterment account, but based on this string, I went to Personal Capital, and it looks like Personal Capital can link with Betterment now, so that’s definitely a plus.

Reply

December 14, 2014 9:28 pm

Guest

Rite

Yes, they support betterment. I just registered and imported my betterment account.

Reply

December 20, 2014 12:10 pm

Guest

Richard

Thanks for the great info Jacob! I am considering using Personal Capital’s advisory services and am looking for comments from others. Your site has the best info and the most comments from readers.

I have always managed our investments and handing them off to an outsider is a huge step for me. I am not sure I am ready. OTOH, I realize there is a lot of stuff I don’t know. PC’s approach and fee structure seems very reasonable.

Thanks again.

Reply

November 16, 2014 11:08 am

Author

Jacob Lumby, PhD

Richard, thank you for taking the time to read and comment. I haven’t used the advisory services but have heard mostly good things. You might also read my Betterment review if the robo-advisor movement interests you.

Reply

November 16, 2014 11:26 am

Guest

Ron

It’s interesting that some commenters say that PC uses only ETF’s and others say they use individual stocks as well. Either they do a lot of customization or something is odd here.

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October 21, 2014 10:57 pm

Guest

Richard

For what I have learned they use ETF’s AND individual stocks. And you do not pay transaction fees when they buy an sell on your behalf.

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November 16, 2014 11:14 am

Guest

Sid

In my account with PC there are about a hundred positions: stocks, bonds, and ETFs. The stock positions are generally very small, in some cases only a few shares. I pay no transaction fees for the stocks and bonds, but I do pay for the ETF positions. There is some churning of positions, but since I don’t pay any transaction cost for that, I am not concerned. The objective is to achieve a very broad diversity with risk appropriate to the client’s choice without the costs of a mutual fund. I continue to manage a large amount of our retirement… Read more »

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April 7, 2015 6:50 pm

Guest

Bill

Sid.. this site doesn’t say when your comment was written (it’s 2/6/16 now), but what (if anything) have they done during the recent market downturn? Glad to hear you are happy with their services. I am debating whether to sign up for their paid services. I just moved money out of TIAA-CREF (where I was paying 0.8%+mutual fund fees) to Fidelity, where I invested in index funds using the Boglehead approach (and I got lucky and was out of the market for the first 2 weeks of 2016 during the liquidation and transfer!). Clearly going to PC is opposite everything… Read more »

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February 6, 2016 10:26 pm

Guest

Glenn

Bill, Are you happy after being with PC for a while?

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November 6, 2017 8:53 am

Guest

Cody Wheeler

Thanks for the review. I’ve been looking for a site exactly like this. I’ve found Mint to be pretty limiting when it comes to the investing and asset growth side of things, although it’s still good for tracking spending, which does come in handy. I’m going to give it a shot.

PS: Great site as well. I hope we can connect.

Reply

June 6, 2014 7:09 am

Guest

Tim F

I have been using Personal Capital for about a year — it’s a fantastic tool. I don’t use their advisory services yet and still spend >1% on traditional advisors. Couple of comments. First, i found it linked to all my accounts very easily. As of now, it brings together two money center banks, my 401k, IRA, investment accounts, stock option accounts (my employer), four credit cards, and one of my two mortgages. It even taps into my financial advisors’ system! Coupled with manual entries re home values, etc. it gives me an instantly updated view of my net worth. Perhaps… Read more »

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May 31, 2014 2:38 pm

Guest

socrates

The app is pretty cool, I’ve been using it now for a couple of weeks. I like the fact that I can look at all my accounts in one place. I only wish it showed the cost basis on the investments I have.

I find the portfolio checkup tool to be very interesting, but its not useful to me. The information presented seems to do more to advertise their professional management services than really help.

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May 24, 2014 11:03 pm

Guest

Fermata

Excellent review – comprehensive, complete, thoughtful. I signed up for PC about a month ago. Other than an occasional glitch with their account updates, it’s been working fine. The account link procedure was very simple. And the updates work better than Mint, plus the website design is clearer and easier to understand. True, they don’t offer the budgeting features Mint has but I use something separate for that anyway. I took the bait on the money management services, meaning I’ve sat through two short (20 minutes) presentations and then agreed to their longer (1 hour) pitch, which I had today.… Read more »

Reply

May 2, 2014 7:13 pm

Author

Jacob Lumby, PhD

Fermata, such an excellent comment. Thank you for detailing your experience for others to see. I hope you’ll stick around and share updates as well.
I don’t necessarily think 0.87% is bad, but there is downward pressure. You should also consider Betterment and Wealthfront. I wrote a few reviews on here that details their service, and I’ve been impressed overall. I’ve not tried the others, but I’m just wanting to let you know about other low cost portfolio management services out there right now.
Finally, great closing note and a great reminder that it’s never too late for change. Enjoy your retirement!

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May 7, 2014 7:08 am

Guest

Aakash

Great review. I’ve signed up for free accounts with Future Advisor and Jemstep as well and have found Personal Capital to be superior particularly with regards to the number of accounts/brokerages they allow automatic tracking for, their graphics/visuals, and their detailed portfolio tracking. Another big advantage worth highlighting is their breakdown of what your asset allocation is. I haven’t been able to find such a detailed and accurate breakdown through any other service or website and certainly wouldn’t be able calculate and keep track of it myself with the same accuracy.

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March 24, 2014 8:19 pm

Guest

Erik

I have tracked Fidelity 401k, self managed brokerage accounts and 529 with Personal Capital for over a year with no issues.

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March 9, 2014 7:48 am

Guest

Marc Pilotte

Great review Jacob. I have been using mint for a few years now but have continually had problems with a couple accounts updating properly. Based on your review, I believe its time for me to try Personal Capital. Nice job on the review. Marc

Reply

February 22, 2014 9:37 am

Author

Jacob Lumby, PhD

Thanks Marc! I think you’ll like it. Please let me know how it all goes.

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February 22, 2014 10:59 am

Guest

Alberto

Unfortunately at this time they do not operate outside of the US, however if you live in the US now you’ll be able to keep the account if you relocate abroad in the future (I am referring to the assent management part of their services, the aggregation software only works for US based institutions)

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February 11, 2014 10:18 pm

Author

Jacob Lumby, PhD

Thanks for sharing Alberto. Good info.

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February 12, 2014 9:34 am

Guest

Bill

Great review Jacob.
I signed up a couple weeks ago with PC and really like it so far. Had my financial consultation and considering letting them manage my money. The website is easy to use and functional.. and the advisor I have been speaking with is very professional and helpful…so far so good..

Reply

February 4, 2014 10:27 am

Author

Jacob Lumby, PhD

Thanks Bill, and thank you for stopping by to share your experience! Keep us all updated please.

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February 4, 2014 10:28 am

Guest

Robert ILC

I really like Personal Capital’s UI. It is clean and easy to use. Much better than mint.com. I also agree that the way it presents information about assets etc is very valuable.

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January 9, 2014 1:09 pm

Guest

Jake

Does anyone have any success stories from Personal Capital’s financial advisers?

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October 14, 2013 5:09 pm

Guest

Jacki

We signed up for the financial advisor in July and have really enjoyed watching the stocks that they’ve chosen. It was a little difficult getting everything set up (just lots of paperwork), but overall we have really liked it!

Reply

October 16, 2013 5:03 pm

Author

Jacob Lumby, PhD

Hi Jacki! Super glad to hear about your positive experience with Personal Capital. Do you know how your portfolio has performed verse it’s most comparable index?

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October 16, 2013 6:04 pm

Guest

Jacki

So far, our portfolio is down 0.13% and the S&P 500 Index Return (for the same time period starting in July) is up 0.16%. So with the very little time we’ve been signed up, we’re not “beating the market”, but it’s definitely interesting to see what they’re doing. We have about 80 different stocks and then a few low cost ETFs. A few of our stocks have done extremely well and one just tanked. It’s definitely better and more interesting than what I would do on my own!

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October 17, 2013 9:30 am

Guest

Krys

I just signed up to use the PC advisers at the end of the 2016. I had various accounts ranging from pension to retirement to money market hanging out, there is such a benefit to having it all in one place and being able to invest proportionately (as apposed to mutual funds where you really have to dig to get an idea where anything is causing a lot of duplicate investing) and the transparency is second to none. Directly owning each individual stock (costco, cocacola, disney etc) and knowing how many shares you have in each and how that works… Read more »

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March 3, 2017 6:16 pm

Guest

MD

Jacob and Vanessa, I just love your blog and am a regular reader. I even signed up for the airvoice wireless service by following the link from your website all the way to making the transaction, hoping that you get a small share out of it as encouragement and appreciation for lots of good things you guys post on your blog. I read the “Betterment” review that you posted a while ago and now I read the Personal Capital review. While I understand that the 2 products are slightly different wherein Betterment can do automatic asset allocation based on percentages… Read more »

Reply

July 31, 2013 2:53 pm

Author

Jacob Lumby, PhD

Thanks, MD. We really appreciate the support. I don’t make anything from Airvoice, or many of the other links on the site, but your encouragement is well taken. Betterment is purely an asset management company. The only reason to sign up for Betterment is if you want them to manage your investments for you. They don’t offer any free services, but their asset management fees are significantly lower than Personal Capital. Personal Capital, on the other hand, offers a free service, which simply consolidates your accounts and provides information about your spending and investing. They do offer OPTIONAL asset management… Read more »

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